After he was Gone
by Allanasha ke kiri
Summary: What happened after James Medin recently discovered Harry Potter left the Great Hall?


Hey all! Are you wondering what all happened after Harry/James left the other reality? Where, here ya go. I honestly don't know how long this will be. Probably not more than a few chapters, at most. You know, just enough to get through what happens, and everyone's reactions, and stuff. Anyway, here ya go!

**_After he was Gone  
By Allanasha Ke Kiri_**

Silence filled the hall after James, or rather, Harry Potter, vanished. Before anyone could overcome their shock, Tom stood, immediately gaining everyones attention. He was silent a moment longer, gazing out over the parents and soon-to-be ex-students.

"What you have just seen, proves a theory many have speculated over for many years. That boy, is Harry Potter, from another reality, but he is more than just confirmation. He has seen much in his brief life. This is the story of one Harry James Potter."

Quietly, he told the story Harry had told him over the two years he had been present. Never once did he shout, or raise his voice above what it started at, but he did not think anyone had any trouble hearing him. The room was completely silent except for his voice; everyone listening atentatively to the story of the young man that had been among them.

Occasionally, his eyes would rest on the Harry that remained, the boys eyes were wide, mouth dropped slightly opened. Draco Malfoy never once lifted his eyes from the table before him, but Tom did not blame him. Lily was listening carefully. Harry had been told him more than he'd told them. Tom was his confidant.

Finally, Tom's story finished, and the room plunged into silence again.

"I do believe I have given everyone enough to think of tonight. I would suggest you get a good nights sleep so that you are well prepared for tomorrow. Mr. Malfoy, would you and your parents please join me in my office?" As everyone began to stand, still strangely silent, Tom turned to Severus, "You are quite welcome to join us, if you will, Severus."

Severus nodded his acceptance and they were quickly on their way to Tom's office, the Malfoys not far behind. The walk was not as long as Tom seemed to remember it being, and they were soon ensconced within its walls, and well settled in comfortable chairs.

"In April," Tom said, reaching into his desk, "Harry, James, rather, came to me and asked me to deliver something should anything happen to him at the end of the year. When I asked him what he thought would happen, he shrugged and told me that something always happened at the end of the year, and that he'd rather be prepared, just in case." Tom tapped the envelope into his left hand. "I do not know what is in this," he said. "I did not ask, and he did not offer. All he said about it, was that it was to go to Mr. Malfoy."

Without another word, Tom handed Draco the envelope.

* * *

Draco wasn't sure what to think. His boyfriend was Harry Potter. His boyfriend was Harry Potter from another reality. His boyfriend had neglected to _tell_ him that he was Harry Bloody Potter from another bloody reality. Carefully, trying to hide how much his hands shook, he opened the envelope and pulled out several parchments. He unfolded them and began to read.

_Draco,_

_If you're reading this, that means something happened to me. Whether I've died, or I've returned home, I do not know, but, in either case, I'm gone. Before you read further, please ask Tom to tell you who I really am, and whatever he remembers from what I've told him._

Draco stopped reading there, but figured that the headmaster had already done that.

_Believe him. I am Harry James Potter, and I am from another reality. It's a little hard to swallow, I know. It took me awhile to get used to it. I almost hexed Tom when I first saw him in fact. Poor humor I know, but it amuses me upon occasion. This is harder than I thought it would be. It would probably be easier to tell it to your face--_

_**Then why didn't you, you bloody prat**__?_ Draco demanded silently.

_--But I didn't want my past to get in our way. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, Draco, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it any sooner._

_If I'm dead, well, I don't know what to say to that, except that . . . well, actually, I have nothing. If I did leave, then let me just say that if I felt I had any other choice I wouldn't have gone. But, I promised myself long ago, when I gave up most of my hope of returning, that if I did find a way, I would return. They need me, Draco. And I can't turn my back on them._

_We're at war, against a very evil, powerful, wizard named Voldemort. He will stop at nothing to gain control of the wizarding world, even if it means destroying it first to do so. I am the only one who can stop him, or so says a prophecy. I don't know how I will do so or what I can do, but I have to try. They're counting on me. Most of the world sees me as their salvation. Even without knowing the prophecy, they think that I'll be the one to stop him. I'm the Boy-Who-Lived (note my sarcasm), and I have a duty to them. It's my Gryffindorness showing through. You should know it; you lectured me on it enough._

_I am very sorry, Draco. I really am. I was planning on telling you after graduation. I couldn't stand the thought of lying to you if we really got serious after Hogwarts. Can you forgive me? For keeping it from you for so long? For leaving? I really don't want to go, if indeed I didn't die. I hope I left, because, I might have a chance to get back, once I finish what I've got to do._

_I'm not going to ask you to wait for me, because that's not fair to you, and I might not be able to. I might die in the war against Voldemort. If that happens I won't be coming back, or there may be no way. I don't want you wasting your life waiting for something that just might never happen._

_This probably isn't the best time to tell you this, but I love you, Draco. I don't know when it happened, but I do, and you don't know how sorry I am that I couldn't stay and see where we would go. I'll carry your memory with me while I'm where I'm at, and you can bet that I will never forget you. You are the first person I've loved, and I'm sure you will be the only person._

_I love you, Draco._

_James Medin AKA Harry Potter_

Draco set down the letter in his lap and looked up at the headmaster. "He just wanted to ex-explain a few things," he whispered.

The headmaster nodded as if he had expected nothing else. Draco risked a glance at his father. He was furious, though it would not be obvious to anyone who did not know him.

* * *

"He kept it from me! Two years! Two years, I had another son here, and I wasn't told! How dare he!"

Lily watched her husband pace the room, her lips pursed in disapproval, not that he noticed. Remus had much the same look, she noticed, as he watched his friends pace and rant. Peter seemed to be the only one to notice, however, and he alone remained quiet.

"He's just a slimy snake. Probably laughing his arse off every time he saw you," Sirius added angrily.

"Turning my son against me."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he told the boy not to tell you."

"Making things up."

James suddenly turned, eyes blazing angrily as they set on Lily. "You knew," he accused her. "You knew and you didn't tell me. Why?"

"Because he asked me not to."

"Why would my son not want me to know?"

"Two words. Parent's Day."

James cringed. "You weren't there!"

"He told me," was Lily's cool reply. "I had to drag it out of him by threatening to tell you if he didn't explain why he didn't want you to know, but he told me."

"But I didn't know it was him," James whined.

"And he was afraid you would only see the Slytherin even when you knew who it was. He didn't think he could handle his father _hating_ him and actually _knowing_ it was him. All he's ever wanted was to know his parents. If you weren't such a bigot, you'd have gotten to know him. If Harry wasn't such a bigot, he'd have gotten to know the boy. He would have benefited from it, I'm sure."

James slumped into a nearby chair.

"Did you know that he'd lost his godfather just weeks before coming here?" she asked, turning her blazing green eyes on Sirius. "He loved the man, saw him as the father he never had. I'm sure it didn't help to see that same man glaring at him as if he were the scum of the earth."

She glared at him until Sirius shrunk back into a chair.

"From what I can tell," she continued, her voice hard. "Remus was the only one that bothered to look beyond the boy's house, and even then he had a little trouble."

She watched with a little sympathy as Remus winced. She didn't really hold it against him.

"If your reactions to him had been different, I probably could have convinced him to tell you."

"Did Emily know?" James asked, voice softer.

"No, he hadn't wanted her to know that she had a crush on her older brother." Lily hid a smile at the thought.

"What was he like?" Sirius asked.

"Different than our Harry," she said, before continuing on to tell them what he was like.

* * *

"Another you was in Slytherin," Ron whispered incredulously.

"He was in Gryffindor where he came from!" Harry replied indignantly.

"Can you imagine having an evil wizard out for your blood, specifically?" Neville asked, drawing everyone's attention.

The other three boys in the room shuddered at the thought of Dumbledore searching them out.

"How about personally searching him out to stop him?" Jason added.

"Definitely Gryffindor," Ron amended.

Harry sat up suddenly, appearing very green.

"What's wrong, mate?" Jason asked worriedly.

"I kissed him!" he exclaimed. "I kissed _myself_. Gross!"

Without another word, Harry leapt from his bed and dashed for the bathroom. They watched him go silently a moment, before Neville began laughing. Soon, Jason and Ron had joined in. They were still laughing when a scowling Harry rejoined them.

"It's not funny," Harry whined.

"Yes, it is, mate," Ron said. "You were furious when he went running from you wiping his mouth and muttering 'gross' and 'disgusting,' but here you are doing the same thing."

* * *

Emily Rose Potter was known for many things; most common was her 'famous' brother, the unofficial leader of the Gryffindor Quartet. From what she had just heard, her brother didn't know the meaning of the word. It was also painfully obvious, more so than it had been before at any rate, that her brother was an immature prat, who, at 17, would have no idea what to do with the responsibility the other Harry had had thrust on him at 11.

Emily silently stared out the window of her borrowed room, having had to stay for her brother's graduation ceremony the next day. She had heard her parents in the other room discussing the other Harry, James. What they hadn't talked about, what no one had talked about, was what the older boy would be doing now that he was back home. From just what Headmaster Riddle had said made it very obvious to her that he was going back to war, but no one seemed to care. Was she the only one who realized just what that meant? Her friend, her _brother_, was risking death for people he didn't know, and seemed to change their opinion of him as often as the wind changes direction. Her brother wouldn't have bothered.

For all his arrogance and big talk, he wasn't even half as brave as James was, and _he_ was Slytherin. It made her wonder if she should have let the hat put her there when it had suggested it. From where she was sitting, they seemed to be the better house.

Sighing, Emily leaned back against the wall. Things were going to be different without James around. Vaguely, she wondered just who would be taking over the head boy speech at tomorrow's ceremony.

* * *

_So_ Narcissa thought as she watched her son read the letter. _James Medin is really Harry Potter._

She found it ironically funny that her son had fallen for a Gryffindor turned Slytherin. Her only worry was how Draco would react now that the other boy was gone. Before the current day, she had only seen them on the day of the last task, and even then she knew just how Draco felt about the headmaster's nephew . . . except he wasn't the headmaster's nephew. He was someone much more important.

Narcissa wondered what her son would do now that the one he loved was gone. She also wondered if he knew that he loved James. Time would tell, she supposed. She would just have to be around to pick up the pieces of her son's sure-to-be-broken heart.

The Slytherin common room was deathly silent as everyone sat contemplating what had just occurred in the Great Hall.

"Wow," Blaise whispered finally.

"Can you believe we had a Potter in Slytherin?" Pansy asked.

"Well, Draco always did he was too Gryffindor for his own good."

Goyle cringed under the dozen heated glares he received.

"Can you imagine the courage it must have taken to start over?" Millicent asked. "A new identity, he couldn't even keep his face. He had to remake his friends from scratch. And people cant be completely the same there, not with the change in power Headmaster Riddle said they had."

There were several silent nods.

"He isn't anything like Potter," Pansy said, suddenly. "So, he isn't Harry Potter, if we said he was, it would be saying that he was like all those other ones. He's James Medin, the one who didn't care about your house; the one that helped get our house name out of the mud."

"Here, here," Crabbe said, raising his butterbeer.

Several others followed his example. The common room fell silent once again. Carefully, Crabbe and Goyle shared a look before standing, wands drawn. They ignored all the strange looks they recieved, and, as one, they pointed their wands to the ceiling.

_"_**_Virga_****_vexillum_**_ in monumentum"(1)_

On the ceiling appeared a very large banner, the words: _In Rememberance of James *Harry* Medin, Who Made Our Time Enjoyable and Easier. May Future Generations Never Forget the Effort He Took to Clear Our Name_ were elegantly written across it.

Pansy stood, quietly, and pointed her wand at the banner. "Parkinson," she muttered.

Purple sparks shot from her wand. Once they landed on the banner, her name, Pansy Parkinson, was written in smaller letters. Others took up her idea and shot their names at the banner as well. Soon, the entire class of seventh year Slytherins were written on it.

"What about Draco?" Blaise asked. "He'd want his name on there."

"Is he going to get back in time?" Pansy asked.

The banner spell had a limited amount of time before nothing else could be put on it. Soon, Draco's name was added to it as well.

"I wonder how Draco's going to take this," Anelin said softly.

"Not well," was the reply.

"Merlin's beard and knickers," Pansy suddenly exclaimed, jumping back to her feet. "He kissed him!"

Frowns crossed the common room.

"Who, Draco? We, know we watched him."

"No," Pansy said, "Potter." At the confused looks she got, she sighed irritably. "Potter kissed James."

"Bloody hell, he did!"

The common room dissolved into laughter.

* * *

Hermione pointedly ignored her year mates. She had come across a book on realities in her 4th year, and had dismissed it immediately. Things like that just weren't possible, and there was absolutely no proof to show otherwise. Except . . . except now there was. And it was her friend that was from another reality. She couldn't help the excitement that welled up when she thought about being in the same place, _witnessing_, as a theory was proven correct.

It vanished soon after, however, when she thought about the danger her friend would be facing. At least he had her there . . . or, rather, another her. And 'she' seemed just as bookish as she, so James, or Harry, would at least have a decent researcher. Who knows what other spells the other Hermione had learned because of the war.

Suddenly, a stray thought had her laughing, gaining the attention of her 7th year housemates.

"S-sorry," Hermione giggled. "I-it's just th-that, Harry kissed James."

"We know," replied someone Hermione didn't see.

"No! Harry kissed the other him!"

A moment later laughter was bubbling from the graduates in Gryffindor house.

* * *

Draco couldn't help but feel . . . lost. He should have said goodbye; he shouldn't have just glared at the boy when he tried to say it face-to-face. He'd never be able to do that now. James was gone, and he was never going to see him again. Just then, he didn't care that there were others in the room; he didn't care that his parents were there, or that his father would not be happy with him. He cried.

"Draco!" Lucius snapped.

"Hush, Lucius," Was Narcissa's reply. Soon after, he felt her arms wrap around him. Draco turned into her arms and just cried.

"Well isn't this a pretty picture."

Draco jerked out of his mother's arms to face the voice. Halfrac. "What are you doing here?" Draco snarled, jumping to his feet.

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Well, I _had_ come to give you a wish, but if you don't want it. . . ." she began to turn away.

"No!" Draco shouted.

Halfrac turned back.

"What . . . what do you mean?"

"I'm here to give you a wish. If you have one, make it."

"Can-- can I wish that James came back?"

"No, Unfortunately, he has to stay where he is. Something about needing to finish something or some such. Other than that though."

Draco frowned. "Can you take me to him?"

"No! Absolutely not. I will not allow it!" Lucius yelled, rising to his feet.

"This is not _your_ decision," was Halfrac's response.

"He is my son, and as such--"

Draco turned in confusion, to see that his father's mouth was gone. Both the headmaster and Severus' eyes were wide. They obviously hadn't done it. His mother shook her head at his inquisitive look. Eyes wide, he turned back to Halfrac. She shrugged.

"He got on my nerves. Now, your wish?"

"You never answered my question. Can you take me to him?"

"I can. On one condition."

Draco's eyes narrowed. "What condition?"

She smiled, but it wasn't a smile that comforted him. "I'm not going to tell you."

"You expect me to make a wish when I don't know the condition?"

"Well, if you don't want me to . . ."

"Wait!" Draco sighed, turning to face Narcissa. "Mum . . ."

Narcissa smiled and hugged her son. "We're still young Draco. You do what you have to do."

Draco pulled back and smiled. He locked eyes with Severus. "Goodbye."

Severus nodded once. Draco turned back to Halfrac.

"I wish I was with James."

"Very well." A snap of her fingers later, and they were both gone.

* * *

It was some time before Lucius and Narcissa left, leaving Severus and Tom alone in the office.

"That was him, wasn't it?" Severus asked.

Tom frowned. "Pardon?"

"The one that had qualities of both houses. It was him."

Tom nodded. "Harry was, is, a very unique individual. I have no doubt that he will accomplish what he has gone back to do. And, now that Draco is with him, he will stop at nothing to make sure his world is safe."

* * *

"Come in," Tom's voice called after they'd knocked on his door.

When it opened, he did not seem surprised to see Lily and the Marauders standing outside. He also looked highly amused to see James, Sirius, and Peter looking suitably cowed as they filed in behind Lily and Remus.

"Hello, Lily," Tom said. "Harry had something he wanted me to give you, should anything happen."

He pulled out an envelope with the word 'Mum' written on it. Silently, he handed it over. Curious, she opened it.

_Mum,_

_Thank you. I have always wanted to know what it felt like to have a mum, to know that someone worried about you; that they loved you even when you screwed up. I'd seen Ron with Mrs. Weasley, and he never seemed to appreciate it. Thank you for showing me that love. You took a chance to know me, and they are memories I will always treasure._

_I do ask, that you not tell James about me being there. I would rather him not know that his 'son' had ended up in Slytherin. It wouldn't be fair for your Harry to have James look at him and wonder if there really was a Slytherin buried under his Gryffindorness._

_Keep an eye on Emily, don't let her become blind to the world again, not that I think she would. She's got a lot of you in her. Good luck with Harry, and yes that still sounds really weird. Bye_

_Love_

_Harry_

Lily looked up from the letter, knowing tears were in her eyes. "He wanted to thank me for being a mum," she whispered, purposefully not letting James know that Harry didn't want him to know. He was guilty enough without the added weight.

"He was something else, wasn't he?" Tom asked with obvious fondness.

"That he was," Remus answered.

* * *

"Tom?" Poppy called as she opened the door to his office. She had seen the others leave, and figured Tom might need some emotional support. It wasn't _that_ long ago that he'd lost his family. Then, Harry had taken that place in his heart. It would be very hard for him.

"Right here, Poppy," Tom was standing by a window, gazing out over the grounds.

"He's gone," Poppy said, softly, as she crossed the room.

"He is. Draco's followed him."

"Has he?"

Tom nodded silently.

"At least he isn't alone," Poppy offered.

"There is that."

Poppy laid a gentle hand on Tom's shoulder. "He's not dead, Tom, just gone. Who knows, maybe we'll see him again someday. He did come once, didn't he? And he seems the kind of boy that makes the impossible happen. He did get Gryffindor and Slytherin on civil terms, didn't he?"

Tom smiled gently. "Poppy, there's . . ."

"Hmm?"

"Harry told me that I needed to stop being so Slytherin, because sometimes there's just something about being brutally blunt that subtlety can't quite imitate."

Poppy frowned, confused. "Tom?"

Locking eyes with her, Tom bent, and brushed his lips to hers. He backed away a moment later, and Poppy wondered if it had actually happened. A hand raised to brush her lips.

She smiled softly. "He told me that I needed to be a bit more Gryffindor too," she replied, before stretching to brush hers against his.

* * *

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As Hermione stood before the crowd, full of classmates and their families, she was silent. Her eyes wondered over them thoughtfully, and everyone leaned forward, waiting to hear what she would tell them.

"When we first arrive here at Hogwarts," she told them finally. "We are told that we will be sorted into four houses: Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. We are told that our house is our family, and, for seven years, they are. We eat together, sleep together, learn together, play together, and fight together.

"For seven years, we are steamed together to do our best, to outshine the other houses, whether it be Quidditch, in the classroom, or even in our daily life. At the end of the year the 'best house', or the one with the most points, is awarded the house cup, thus secluding each house even more." Hermione paused a moment, glancing down at her notes.

Meanwhile, everyone in the audience sat silently, wondering where she was going.

"Then," she continued, "at the end of the seven years, we are sent out into the real world, where there are no houses, or points. We do not get praise simply because we have al the answers, or because we are the most popular. In the real world, we must work together with those who were from other houses; those whom we may have ignored, or even ridiculed, and those we work for will not care what house we were in, or that we may not have cared for our partners. And we will have to make due.

"Two years ago, none of us would have been ready for the real world. Even right now, as we make our plans, I fear that many of us still are not. There are those who still see the world as our houses, and refuse to see that the world is more than that.

"Many of us, who have managed to … see beyond our houses, have one to thank. One who is no longer among our number. He was with us for two years, but during that time, he showed us that Hogwarts was more than just our houses. James Medin extended a hand to each of us, always with a smile, but it was up to us whether we wished to take it or not.

"He was a Slytherin, and because of that, many said that he was no good. They said that he couldn't have truly been so nice; that he must have an ulterior motive for it." Hermione paused once again, her eyes scanning the crowd.

"Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but he's no longer here to ask. He returned to where he belongs in an attempt to save them.

"As we have already learned, he is a Harry Potter, and a Gryffindor. Just knowing this should tell us that there is more to someone than their house.

"Many of us considered him our friend, myself included, and I will never forget the lessons he unknowingly taught me, taught _us._ And I encourage all of you to remember them, and follow them, for they will help us in the real world, where our house no longer matters."

There was a round of applause as Hermione stepped back and carefully took her headgirl seat. Beside her sat Goyle, in his hands was James' speech. He had went to the headmaster last night, after he'd found them, and had offered to read it, in lieu of James being gone. Headmaster Riddle had agreed.

As she sat, Goyle stood and calmly took the podium, laying the notes before him. "As you know," he said. "James is gone, having left last night. However, he left his speech behind, and I have been given permission to read it for him."

He cleared his throat.

"Greetings, on this, our final day together as classmates. We knew it would happen from the first day we stepped into this magnificent school. Though some have known it longer, but even then it seemed so far away.

"We have grown together, though for each of us it was in our own ways, in our own little circle of friends, but nonetheless it was together. Whether we realized it or not, our growth affected those around us.

"We go into our world with our own thoughts and ideas, hopes and dreams. We must not allow anyone to convince us that our thoughts are wrong; ideas worthless; or our dreams out of our reach.

"If you are not happy where you are, strive to do more, but if you are, let no one tell you otherwise. If you are happy, do not let the words of others discourage you. For the things we have learned here have made each of us perfect to live our lives the way we want to live.

"I, personally, cannot thank all of you enough for what I have learned here, and not just from the professors. Probably the most important lessons were learned outside of the classroom, among each other. Our friends, and our rivals all had something to teach us, and because of this we have changed during our time in this school.

"Remember these lessons in the years to come. They will help you in the life outside these walls. And it will help ensure you need not learn them again.

"We do not know, truly, what will happen outside these walls, or if we even want to go. But we must, because it is our time. So we will, but we will not be alone. These seven years at Hogwarts have given us friends, and they go with us. We will not lose them just because we leave this school. Friends are friends, and a simple change of scenery cannot change that.

"Now, as you leave, remember but one thing. Trust them, lean on them, rely on them, and in return allow them to trust you, to lean on you, and to rely on you. You will be stronger for it all."

As he finished the speech, Goyle stepped back, the crowd applauding, though the slytherin's were louder than any other, despite the disproving glances of their parents.

* * *

Alright, here's that side-story you all wanted. Hope it meets up with your expectations. And, now you all know why I couldn't put it up sooner. It would have been a MAJOR spoiler as to where I was going ^_^

**_virga_****_vexillum_**_ in monumentum – _Sticking charm, banner, in remembrance.

As we're never told how to do the permanent sticking charm, I had to make something up. This is latin … according to my online translator. For those of you who actually know latin … please tell me if it's wrong? Thanks ^_^

Allanasha


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